BuzzFeed Ramps Up Facebook Live Strategy With Classic ‘Monty Python’ Film Stream

BuzzFeed is ramping up its Facebook Live programming slate by adding classic movies into the mix. Today the viral publisher streamed a remastered edition of the British slapstick feature Monty Python And The Holy Grail via the world’s largest social network.

The film is available to Facebook users for free thanks to a deal between BuzzFeed and Seeso, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Seeso, an NBCUniversal-owned OTT subscription platform launched earlier this year and priced at $4 per month, streams comedy content, including the Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch comedy series, which predated the film. (Last month, NBCUniversal doubled its investment in BuzzFeed for a total of $400 million, reportedly valuing the company at $1.7 billion).

“Movies are a vital part of pop culture but are often presented in ways that aren’t optimized for human connection,” BuzzFeed Motion Pictures’ head of development, Matthew Henick

, told the Reporter. “It’s so exciting to stream a classic movie like Holy Grail, which has so many jokes and scenes that have become part of everyday conversation and Internet culture through memes.” To this end, members of the comedy group, including Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, and John Cleese, offered live commentary during the event, which BuzzFeed billed on Facebook as ‘BuzzFeed Movie Night’.

The company counts more than 8.8 million Facebook fans.

Other publishers have experimented with using the social network’s explosively popular Live video service as a vehicle for content that’s also being distributed through traditional outlets. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, for instance, aired both the premiere and finale of his Fuse reality television show, Clash Of The Corps, on his official Facebook page.